The Argonautica

and Zeus, who holds his guarding hand above strangers and suppliants;

Suppliant and stranger both, I arrive here in your presence,

I clasp your knees, constrained by dire and urgent need;

lacking your aid, I cannot master this grief-bringing trial.

Later, I would give full thanks in payment for your assistance,

as is right and fitting for people dwelling far apart:

making your name shine and fashioning noble renown; and all the

the other heroes returning to Hellas will sing your praises,

and the heroes' wives and mothers, who even now perhaps

sit on the shores and raise their long lamentation for us;

you could scatter away those women's bitter anguish.

Theseus himself was once delivered from terrible ordeals

by Ariadne, Minos' child, whose kindness secured his rescue,

the maiden whom Pasiphae bore, herself the child of Helios.

She even boarded his ship after Minos had soothed down his anger,

and sat beside him, leaving her fatherland behind; and her

the deathless gods themselves loved; high in mid-heaven,

her sign is a crown of stars, which they call Ariadne's Crown,

all night it wheels among the starry signs of heaven.

So gratitude from the gods will come as your reward, if you rescue

so great a host of champions. Surely, indeed, you appear,

judging by your lovely form, to excel in gentle courtesy.

So he spoke, giving her glory; she inclined her eyes downward

and smiled with nectar-sweetness; deep within, her spirit melted,